ABC composites are useful in many applications such as electronics, automotive applications and armor. In many of these applications, it is necessary for the ABC composite to be bonded to another substrate to realize a functioning component. Metal-ceramic composites have been described where an excess of metal is used to infiltrate a porous ceramic to form a ceramic-metal composite body that then may be bonded to another body (U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,063). Unfortunately, this method results in a sharp distinct interface, which may result in a weakened bond or a bond that has a greater chance of failure in components subjected to thermal and mechanical cycling due to the vastly differing characteristics of the metal and ABC. In addition, this method is relatively uncontrolled and a variable metal thickness may occur as well as some portion of the surface not having any metal at all.
In another method for bonding ceramic metal composite bodies, a powder layer is placed between two dense composite bodies that is infiltrated by the metal in the composite bodies followed by heating and infiltrating the layer of powder such that the two composite bodies are bonded together (U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,797). This method suffers from the problem of metal migration within the composite bodies and possible distortion of the bodies due to the high temperatures that may be necessary to cause the metal to infiltrate between the bodies and the potential that the bonding may not be adequate due to the presence of an oxide layer on the metal in the composite bodies.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method that overcomes one or more of the problems of the prior art such as one of those described above.